Moles, gophers and other burrowing rodents cause extensive damage to lawns, athletic fields, golf courses, and agricultural land by creating raised mounds. Over the years numerous devices have been developed to trap rodents. Because burrowing rodents are sensitive to shock waves, one of the most effective ways of exterminating them is by using traps in which a percussive device is fired when the trap is triggered.
However, the person setting a percussive rodent trap can easily be injured if the trap is triggered while it is being installed in the rodent's run. To overcome this, complex trigger mechanisms have been used in the prior art percussive traps. This complexity increases the cost and, in many cases, reduces the effectiveness of the trap.